Pikachu · Wizards Black Star Promos
Back · 6.5 — centering 10.0 · corners 4.0 · edges 5.5 · surface 8.0
Centering is graded on both faces, and the final grade weights the front more heavily.
Corners is the weakest sub-score, so it's the most likely thing to cost this card a grade. Sharpness under magnification. Softening from shuffling or a binder shows here first, and corners cost more grades than anything else.
An estimate from one photo — not a grade, and not affiliated with PSA. Lighting, angle and photo quality all move these numbers, and a grader sees the card in person.
Square, 1600×1600, with the grade and our mark along the bottom — sized so eBay's square crop doesn't cut your card.
The short version
Pikachu is playing for a mid grade.
The card is held back by one thing: corners at 7.0, against edges at 8.5. Fix nothing and it grades where corners allows — but it also means a sharper, straighter-on photo is worth taking, because a single weak reading is the one most likely to be the camera rather than the card.
On the money: $3.46 after fees against $38 raw. The fees eat the upside at these odds, so selling it raw is the stronger play unless you're keeping it.
Worth repeating: this is one photo read by a model, not a grade. Lighting and angle move these numbers, and a grader has the card in hand.
Grade one of yours free →What each score measures
Noticeably off-centre. This is the kind of margin that caps a card at 8 even when everything else is clean.
How evenly the border frames the art, front and back. PSA publishes a tolerance per grade — it is the one sub-score you can measure yourself before you send.
Clear corner wear. Corners cost more grades than any other factor, and this is the card's ceiling.
Sharpness under magnification. Softening from shuffling or a binder shows here first, and corners cost more grades than anything else.
Some edge whitening is visible. It shows most on dark borders and graders do not overlook it.
Whitening and nicks along the card's edge, most visible on dark borders.
Surface marks are showing. This is the area a photo flatters most, so assume the card in hand is no better than this.
Print lines, scratches, dimples and gloss. Holo cards scratch easily and it rarely photographs well.
Is it worth grading?
Based on what copies of Pikachu actually sell for at each grade — and the photo shows light wear, which takes a 10 off the table.
After fees, the expected return is below what it sells for raw.
What grade it would likely get · prices are CGC
Prices are the median of real CGC sales for this card, with the number of sales behind each. The odds come from PSA population data for this era and are applied to every grader, so treat them as the chance of the CARD earning that grade — not as one company's strictness. Odds describe submitted copies of this era, not this specific photo.
Which grader pays best
| Grader | Fee | Expected, after fees |
|---|---|---|
| CGC · best | $37 | $3.46 |
| PSA | $81 | -$28 |
| BGS | $101 | -$38 |
You need roughly a 21% chance of a 10 for grading to break even on this card. The population says 0%.
Based on 171 graded sales and 1,889,841 pop-report entries. Grade odds describe submitted copies — the population a "should I grade this?" question belongs to. Fees are the current published rates and exclude postage and insurance both ways.
How many already exist
CGC has graded 393 copies of Pikachu.
TAG has graded 44 copies of Pikachu.
PSA has graded 43 copies of Pikachu.
A large or fast-growing gem population dilutes the premium a 10 carries, so this matters alongside the current price — not just how much a 10 is worth today.
Buy one instead
Live listings. Sometimes a graded copy sells for less than grading your own would cost — we may earn a commission.